CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-23

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm John Roberts and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:05] Just ahead, going nowhere fast. Heavy

[0:08] snow, icy cold, and howling winds mean

[0:10] many travelers may be home for Christmas

[0:12] only in their dreams. Plus, an inside

[0:15] job. The suicide bomber in the deadly

[0:17] attack on a US military base in Iraq may

[0:20] have worn an Iraqi army uniform. And the

[0:23] FDA orders a sweeping review of

[0:26] prescription painkillers. It's enough to

[0:28] give you a headache. It's all starting

[0:30] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:33] edition. A huge winter storm is piling

[0:36] up record snow and a heap of trouble for

[0:39] holiday travelers hoping to be home for

[0:41] Christmas. The South and Midwest are

[0:43] taking a heavy hit today. Midwest

[0:45] travelers were stranded in blizzard

[0:47] conditions with doubledigit snow and

[0:49] singledigit temperatures. And in parts

[0:52] of the South, freezing rain left

[0:53] highways glazed with ice. Countless

[0:56] thousands of people are without power

[0:58] tonight. The storm's track from Wyoming

[1:00] to Ohio and from the Texas panhandle on

[1:02] up to the Great Lakes left a big trail

[1:05] of misery. And it's far from over.

[1:07] Cynthia Bowers begins our coverage.

[1:11] >> This is a record these folks want no

[1:13] part of. A winter's worth of snow in a

[1:16] single day, stranding people and

[1:19] Christmas packages across wide parts of

[1:21] Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

[1:23] >> Just snow's just too deep. can't do it.

[1:25] So, we're just spend the night here.

[1:27] >> 31 in fell south of Indianapolis with

[1:30] snow drifts of up to 6 f feet.

[1:32] Interstate 64 eastbound was closed for

[1:35] 30 m from Evansville to the Illinois

[1:37] state line, making it a day this newly

[1:40] wet will never forget.

[1:42] >> And we were going to try to shoot

[1:43] straight through to enjoy as much of

[1:44] Florida as we could. And now we're in

[1:46] Indiana in a snowstorm. Here we are.

[1:49] This is our honeymoon. It wasn't just

[1:50] heavy snow, but a dangerous wintry

[1:53] recipe that shut Cincinnati down and

[1:55] knocked out power to roughly 300,000

[1:58] Ohio homes.

[1:59] >> Miserable doesn't even explain it. Look

[2:01] at this mound of snow. And it's not just

[2:03] snow. Inside we have a couple inches of

[2:06] sleet. Essentially, a layered cake. Does

[2:08] that does not taste very good.

[2:10] >> By comparison, a couple of inches may

[2:12] not seem like much, but tell that to

[2:14] Longhorns in Amarillo or motorists in

[2:17] Memphis. All the conditions were in

[2:19] place for a major snowstorm and there

[2:21] was a lot of cold air available for the

[2:23] storm and a lot of moisture overran the

[2:25] cold air.

[2:26] >> It made for a tough commute no matter

[2:28] what your ride and left plenty of folks

[2:30] willing to share their woe uh make that

[2:33] white Christmas.

[2:34] >> If you want to come here and enjoy our

[2:36] snow, come on over.

[2:37] >> Or come to Chicago where it was a

[2:40] windchill hovering around -10 that

[2:42] turned the famous mile from magnificent

[2:45] to miserable. Oh, it's pass cold. It's

[2:48] frigid,

[2:49] freezing.

[2:50] >> It's the kind of cold that rattled bones

[2:53] and made working outside dangerous.

[2:55] Unless that is you were warmed by an

[2:57] acetylene blowtorrch and prospects of

[3:00] the upcoming holiday weekend.

[3:02] >> Don't care. I'm done after today until

[3:05] Monday.

[3:06] >> Thankfully, the snow part of this system

[3:08] has cleared on out, but the arctic cold

[3:10] was left behind. In fact, forecast call

[3:12] for it to be even colder, if you can

[3:14] believe it, tomorrow than it was today.

[3:17] And all that bitter cold is headed to

[3:19] the northeast. So, bundle up and brace

[3:22] yourselves. John

[3:23] >> Cynthia Bowers in a frigid Chicago for

[3:25] us live tonight. Cynthia, thanks. Four

[3:27] more US troops lost their lives today in

[3:29] Iraq. a soldier and three Marines. And

[3:31] the US military began an urgent

[3:33] reassessment of base security following

[3:36] Tuesday's attack on a crowded mess tent

[3:38] that left 22 dead, 18 of them Americans

[3:41] and wounded dozens of others. We have

[3:43] two reports now on the attack, the

[3:45] investigation, and the aftermath.

[3:47] Starting with Kimberly Doer in Baghdad.

[3:50] >> There were deadly clashes with militants

[3:52] in Fallujah today. US war plananes

[3:55] dropped bombs on a city supposedly

[3:57] almost completely cleared of insurgents

[3:59] and three Marines were killed. In Mosul,

[4:02] there's a sense of dread among locals as

[4:04] they wait for US troops to crack down

[4:06] after Tuesday's devastating suicide

[4:08] attack at Camp Maris. Some suspects have

[4:10] already been apprehended.

[4:12] US officials are now reviewing security

[4:14] procedures for every single base in Iraq

[4:17] since it seems the Mosul attack was an

[4:19] inside job. The bombing was claimed by

[4:22] militant group Ansar alsa and an Iraqi

[4:24] worker missing from the base fits

[4:26] Ansar's description of the attacker.

[4:28] Mosul's commander, General Carter Ham,

[4:31] says the bomber was likely wearing an

[4:32] Iraqi military uniform. A top US officer

[4:36] has been appointed to investigate how

[4:37] the man was screened and how he got the

[4:39] explosives into the base.

[4:42] The problem is there are Iraqis working

[4:44] on every coalition camp, meaning the

[4:46] Americans will probably have to

[4:47] institute draconian measures to check

[4:49] them coming in and keep an eye on them

[4:51] wherever they are. For the militants,

[4:54] it's a victory by forcing the Americans

[4:56] to suspect every Iraqi they come across.

[4:59] They're further dividing the coalition

[5:01] from the very people it came to help and

[5:03] alienating more Iraqis in the process.

[5:06] Kimberly Doer, CBS News, Baghdad.

[5:10] I'm Sheila McVicker at the US military

[5:12] hospital in Lanstool, Germany, where

[5:14] medical staff have been treating 35

[5:16] soldiers and civilians wounded in that

[5:18] bombing in Mosul. Nearly half of those

[5:21] brought here, 17 are in intensive care,

[5:24] critically injured. Every week, doctors

[5:27] see dozens of patients injured in Iraq

[5:29] and airlifted to this hospital. These

[5:32] patients are different doctors say the

[5:34] pattern of their wounds telling the tale

[5:36] of where they were hurt on a military

[5:39] base. they thought was secure.

[5:41] >> It was obvious that they were not

[5:42] wearing their battle armor. I mean,

[5:44] people are sitting down at lunch. In

[5:46] this case, um they were really primarily

[5:49] um neck, chest, abdomen, and not so much

[5:53] extremity injury. The hospital commander

[5:55] says that while many of those here are

[5:57] very sick, she believes that all have a

[6:00] reasonable chance of recovery. As

[6:02] quickly as these patients can be further

[6:04] stabilized, medical staff are shipping

[6:06] them out heading for hospitals in the

[6:08] US. And for many, that means bedside

[6:11] reunions this holiday weekend. John

[6:14] >> Sheila McVicker in Germany for us

[6:15] tonight. In this country, federal health

[6:17] officials tried today to ease the

[6:19] concern and clear up the confusion about

[6:21] the safety of drugs that millions of

[6:23] Americans take for arthritis pain. As

[6:26] Wyatt Andrews reports, it's not just the

[6:28] patients who are worried. Even their

[6:30] doctors were no longer sure what advice

[6:32] to give and what drugs to prescribe.

[6:36] It was the government's strongest

[6:38] warning yet, and this time it covered

[6:40] all of the COX 2 drugs that millions of

[6:43] patients use to relieve arthritis. In a

[6:45] formal public health advisory, the FDA

[6:48] said physicians should now limit

[6:50] prescriptions for Celre and bera because

[6:52] of recent studies linking them to an

[6:54] increased risk of heart attack and

[6:56] stroke. A third drug, Vio, is already

[7:00] off the market. But that wasn't all. The

[7:02] advisory also extended to

[7:04] over-the-counter pain drugs. The FDA

[7:06] warned patients not to take neproxin,

[7:09] also sold as a leave, in amounts greater

[7:11] than the 440 mgram recommended dose.

[7:14] Even drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin,

[7:17] the FDA said, should not be taken for

[7:19] more than 10 days unless patients

[7:21] consult the doctor.

[7:23] >> Celivrex 2 in the morning, 1 in the

[7:24] afternoon. What this means for patients

[7:26] and their physicians is a second look at

[7:29] COX 2 drugs.

[7:30] >> It is always a clinical decision.

[7:34] >> Dr. David Borenstein says that for

[7:36] patients with stomach irritation, for

[7:37] example, Celre could still be ideal.

[7:41] >> There's some patients for which Celre

[7:43] would be the absolute worst choice and

[7:45] there are other persons where the choice

[7:47] of Celre would be absolutely

[7:50] appropriate. But even as the government

[7:52] issued this advisory, it admitted to

[7:54] some confusion because not every COX 2

[7:57] study shows heart trouble.

[7:58] Significantly, the FDA did not pull

[8:01] Celre off the market. Wyatt Andrews, CBS

[8:04] News, Washington. More stories are just

[8:06] a click away, but be sure to join me on

[8:08] television for the on air edition of the

[8:11] CBS Evening News. On Friday's broadcast,

[8:14] internet fishing gets even fishier.

[8:16] Crooks after your bank account have new,

[8:18] more sophisticated bait to reel you in.

[8:21] It's our Friday Consumer Alert for CBS

[8:24] News.com. I'm John Roberts.